Congress Gets Notice To Vacate Party Office In Akbar Road By Saturday: Sources

New Delhi, March 25: In a development likely to turn into a political flashpoint, the government has asked the main opposition Congress to vacate its 24, Akbar Road office by Saturday, Congress sources said. The Akbar Road bungalow was the Congress’s headquarters for 48 years. Last year, the opposition party inaugurated its new headquarters, Indira Bhavan, at Kotla Marg. But the Akbar Road premises have not been vacated, and party activities continue there.

The Congress party has also been asked to vacate the Indian Youth Congress office at 5, Raisina Road. According to party sources, the Congress is considering legal options to get some relief in the matter. When Sonia Gandhi inaugurated the new Congress headquarters last year, several party veterans said their emotional connection with the 24, Akbar Road office would remain strong.

The walls of the Akbar Road office are seeped in history. It once housed Sir Reginald Maxwell, a member of Viceroy Lord Linlithgow’s Executive Council during the Raj. In the early 1960s, the bungalow was the residence of Daw Khin Kyi, Myanmar’s Ambassador to India. Daw Khin Kyi’s daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, who would later win the Nobel Peace Prize, spent several years in that house.